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BRIDGEPORT, CT – The Bridgeport Sound Tigers dropped their second straight game Sunday, losing to the Springfield Falcons by a final score of 3-1. Johan Sundstrom scored his first goal in nearly a calendar year, but it came far too late for the Sound Tigers, who were behind 3-0 late into the third period, to mount a comeback. Darryl Boyce, Michael Chaput, and Tim Erixon all notched goals for the Falcons. Kenny Reiter made 22 saves but is still in search of his first AHL win.

Sundstrom’s 3rd period goal helped avoid what would have been the first time in team history that the club would have been shutout in two consecutive home games. The Sound Tigers were last held scoreless in back-to-back games on December 17th and 18th, 2011 at Hershey and Providence respectively.

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (Oct. 12, 2013)- Following a penalty-filled contest, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers lost to the Manchester Monarchs 3-0 on Saturday. Jeff Schultz, Tanner Pearson and Tyler Toffoli all scored third-period goals as the Monarchs won their third game of the season. The Sound Tigers, who fall to 1-2-0-0, got 21 saves from Anders Nilsson.

Bridgeport failed to score on 11 power-play opportunities, as their man advantage fell to 2-23 after three games this season. Anders Nilsson was Bridgeport’s bright spot, but Monarchs goaltender Martin Jones stopped 38 Sound Tigers shots to earn his 11th career AHL shutout, all with Manchester.

Video Highlights:

The Sound Tigers wrap up their weekend with a 3pm matinee on Sunday vs. Springfield at the Webster Bank Arena. Tickets available at the box office, or you can watch/listen at ahllive.com

Bridgeport, CT - The Bridgeport Sound Tigers needed a shootout, but defeated the Norfolk Admirals 4-3 Sunday at Webster Bank Arena. Five of the six goals came in the second period, with Riley Wetmore, Andrey Pedan and Joey Diamond notching markers. Anders Nilsson made 32 of 35 saves to earn his first win of the season.

Meanwhile the Sound Tigers dropped their season opener on Saturday at the Webster Bank Arena, as Chris Conner and Harry Zolnierczyk scored goals 11 seconds apart in the 3rd period to lift the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to a 5-2 win. Conner, who also scored the game-tying goal with 2.1 seconds left in the 2nd, finished with two goals, as well as Zolnierczyk. Anders Lee and Kirill Kabanov scored goals in the 2nd for Bridgeport, while Andrey Pedan finished with two assists.

Sound Tigers fans might not be as excited to see these highlights, but they’re below anyway:

Thus concludes the first weekend of season 13 for the Sound Tigers, and my eighth as broadcaster. It’s early, but while this is a very young team (zero AHL veterans), this might be the most talented group of prospects that I’ve seen here. It’s also early, but this might also be the fastest team that I’ve seen here as well. Should be a fun season!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here, either for hockey or broadcast related reasons. Unfortunately it’s been very busy as of late with Sound Tigers games, my regular 9-6 job, occasional arena highlights work for the NHL, weekly AHL Live updates and the Women’s Big East Basketball Tournament, which I worked on at the start of March.

Among all of those various assignments, I had an opportunity to help assemble a feature on Sound Tigers rookie forward Brock Nelson, which aired during pre-game and intermission of a NY Islanders game earlier this month. This is my second season assisting with these, but the first one that has been available online, so you’re invited to watch below. Hopefully I’ll be able to get back into the swing of posting here, as I will probably stick with broadcasting related posts in the short term–mainly because of time constraints–but if there are special requests to have me post about the Bridgeport Sound Tigers and the AHL, I will consider boosting that content here as well!

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (Feb. 12, 2013) – Sound Tigers forward John Persson sent a deflection past Falcons goaltender Curtis McElhinney with 2:14 remaining in overtime to give Bridgeport a 4-3 over Springfield at Webster Bank Arena on Tuesday night. With the win, the Sound Tigers improve to 22-19-2-3. The Falcons earn a point with the overtime loss as their record moves to 28-11-4-3.

Click here for the rest of the game story from Soundtigers.comClick here for Mike Fornabaio’s post-game blog from the Connecticut Post

Video Highlights:

The win also served to extend Bridgeport’s points streak to four (3-0-0-1), their longest stretch since closing out 2012 with four straight wins.

Despite the 10 day layoff, the Sound Tigers looked very sharp, despite an early goal from Ryan Johansen in the opening minute, as they dominated the first two periods before the Falcons recovered to dominate the 3rd period, as they out shot Bridgeport 13-2 over the last 20 minutes. Considering the Falcons makeup, this is not altogether surprising, as their lineup of big strong defensemen and tough forwards lends itself to wearing their opposition down later in games. The Sound Tigers showed a lot of tenacity to bounce back and dominate in overtime, leading to Persson’s game-winner on a deflection, perfectly placed in front by Matt Donovan, who finished with a goal and two assists.

The Sound Tigers also capitalized from a bump after two fights, one between Brett Gallant (vs. Will Weber) in the first, and Blair Riley’s knockout of Jake Hansen early in the 2nd. In both cases, the Sound Tigers not long after.

Additionally, this might have been the best game I’ve seen Nino Niederreiter play as a Sound Tiger. On top of scoring his 21st goal (shorthanded, from an amazing pass by Brock Nelson), Nino spent most of the night laying out punishing hits on the forecheck, while playing fearlessly in the defensive zone, including several diving plays to knock pucks out of the zone.

Meanwhile, in the strange but true department, Springfield’s parent club (Columbus), fired their General Manager Scott Howson during the game tonight, with a replacement set to be named shortly. Howson had been the GM since 2007.

The Sound Tigers also announced the makeup dates for the two games that were postponed due to last weekend’s blizzard. The Sound Tigers will host Worcester on Tuesday April 9th, while the Portland Pirates will arrive in town on April 16th, with both games at 7pm.

Bridgeport will look to earn their 4th straight win as they start a home and home series in Providence on Friday at 7pm from the Dunkin Donuts Center. You can catch the broadcast at AHL Live.